I now have a flute teacher. Aaron Goldman, associate principal flute with the National Symphony Orchestra, has agreed to take me on as his student. I'm quite excited. I hear he's a fabulous player and teacher.
I now have my flute. The Hammig headjoint didn't quite fit, so I took it to a repairman's house/shop on Saturday. It took him all of 10 minutes to get the job done.
My life has recently exploded with music-related events. I'm going to a Linda Chesis masterclass this Saturday. I have my lesson with Mr. Goldman on Sunday. I have an audition for the Capital Wind Symphony on May 19th. Finally, I perform the JSB Partita in A Minor on June 3rd. This is more than I ever thought would happen in such a short amount of time.
Practicing is going well. I recently started keeping a practice journal. It's extremely useful. It's surprising to me how much I forget from the prior day's practice session.
Here's where I am:
I've started doing a breathing exercise from Wye's Practice Book 5. It's basically a complete exhalation followed by extreme inhalation of air to the point of pain. Repeat x 6. I think it will take awhile before I see results. I was inspired to start doing this when I couldn't sustain notes from his long tone exercises.
Long tones (Wye): exercises from Practice Book 1, including pitch control exercises that focus on getting C# in tune.
Harmonics (Wye): I got the high Bb to speak! I still am inconsistent, but this is huge!
Etude (Cavally): 18th etude in book.
Excerpts (Baxtresser): Mendelssohn Scherzo and Daphnis.
Solo work: I am done working on the Faure Fantasie for now. I'll get back into it closer to time to record for the competition. Working on the exposition of the first movement of Mozart G Major Concerto for the CSW audition.
And that's all. I wanted to post quickly tonight (it's late). I didn't want to go too long without posting since so much is happening so quickly!
Jamey, this is wonderful! It's so much easier to practice when you have a goal in mind, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHow do you like Cavally etudes? My teacher suggested I get the book, I can't decide if I want Cavally or Wye's advanced practice book (another one of her suggestions). I read wonderful reviews of Wye's book and can't seem to find a word about the Cavally etudes.
Hi Olya. I'm so excited. The Cavally etudes are good etudes to start with if you haven't done a book of flute etudes before. I've never worked with the Wye advanced practice book, but you can't go wrong. His omnibus edition of the Practice Books for the Flute is wonderful, in my opinion.
ReplyDelete